Decision making Grid

I like Niel Pasricha's book "The Happiness Equation". Last month I re-read it and I like the space grid scribbles he uses to explain things. I have often used 4 by 4 grids to explain and teach concepts this way. It's simplicity is good for creating mental frameworks or models of thinking. The next three posts are going to be simple grids he has used in his book that I want to jot down here for my key takeaways.

How should we make decisions fast and how should we slow down on certain kind of decisions. The secret is getting rid of the extra weight of hundreds of decisions we make every day. The key is to think in this framework of importance and time.

If the decisions you can make happen in cyclical fashion every month, every week, every day then Automate them. These decisions will unclutter and free your brain. IoT devices and mobile phones and automated systems can be programmed to help you meditate, breathe, pay monthly bills, adjust your home thermostat etc.  Automate falls into the lower quadrant as shown in the below figure. 

Decisions that need a little bit more time in terms of thinking but are chores low in importance can be regulated. For example, time blocking an hour of the day where you are only doing emails. Or article reading two - 15 minute blocks for me which I have the option to hit one a day.

The decisions that are high in importance but low in time are important for your social consciousness, connectedness and relationship building. This quadrant is the Effectuate. You simply just do it. Saying hello to your team early morning, checking in with your bosses, creating situational awareness, dinner time with family, putting kids to bed, praying with the family are some of the things that fall for me in the effectuate quadrant of those decisions.

Decisions that are big and have long term or even short term impact have to usually be suspended into the Debate quadrant. This is because they are high in importance and take time. Here is where leaders and teams need to debate, have an abundance of counselors, divergent and diverse thinking. This is where we deliberately slow the decision making down so you can engage in deliberation and debate.

Automate, Regulate, and Effectuate decisions help in removing weight, clutter from your brain.  Deep thinking, pondering, wondering and questioning help you to make better effective decisions.